


Six Hugs Coulson and Daisy Shared

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dramatic Hugs are a Cousy Speciality, F/M, Hugs, Hugs That Go On For Days, Introspection, Missing Scene, POV Phil Coulson, Season/Series 05, Sort Of, more or less, platonic you're doing it wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 12:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13501574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Phil Coulson reflects on the hugs he's shared with Daisy.





	Six Hugs Coulson and Daisy Shared

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts), [hamsterfactor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamsterfactor/gifts).



> This fic's inspired by [this gifset](http://johnsonandcoulson.com/post/169896183735/little-cousy-things-huuuuuggsssss-%EA%88%8D-%EA%88%8D) at Johnson & Coulson.

As he and Daisy rush at each other and hold each other tightly, Coulson can’t help recalling the other occasions when they’ve hugged – there haven’t been that many, which means he can remember each one vividly. 

The first time she’d hugged him. He’d come to tell her a little of what he’d found out concerning her background – not all of it, because he’d felt he didn’t want to burden her with the knowledge of dead Agents, the men and women who’d given their lives for her to try to keep her safe – and she’d been so grateful for that tiny bit of news that it’d hurt not to tell her the rest, even though he’d felt it was better for her not to know. He can still perfectly recall (so clearly) how she’d felt in his arms, and how awkwardly he’d held her – he hadn’t been (still isn’t, really) used to being hugged like that outside of a mission-specific scenario. But Daisy had felt good in his arms, her arms around his neck, her body pressed firmly against his – she still feels good, in fact.

The second time had been a bit less awkward – she’d rushed at him after he’d opened the door to the cell in the Bus, after Ward had taken her from Providence, and he’d gone in after her with no backup, not knowing that Ward had Mike Peterson aboard as well. It had been obvious that she’d been desperately relieved to see him, and he’d been even more desperately relieved to see her relatively safe and well. After seeing the video of Daisy walking out of the base hand-in-hand with Ward, even though she knew that he was a HYDRA traitor and had just killed Agent Koenig, he’d been running endless scenarios – all of them bad – of what Ward might have done to her, but then he’d found her and she’d rushed at him, throwing her arms around him, and he’d hugged her back gladly. And even though he’d been aware of the clock ticking, he hadn’t wanted to let go of her, but he’d made himself pull back to check that she was okay, that Ward hadn’t hurt her too badly, not physically, at least. In the hours and days that had followed, while they’d tried to deal with Ward and Centipede, while he’d tried to come to terms with the fact that SHIELD was no more than a HYDRA shell, the recollection of Daisy’s hug had sustained him, and allowed him to keep moving forward.

The third time they embraced he’d given up any hope or expectation of ever doing so again – he’d been metaphorically holding Daisy at arm’s length for months, worried that his proximity to her would trigger in her the terrible, compulsive carving that was slowly destroying him. But when he’d found her standing alone, looking at an old photo of her father Cal holding her baby self, and he’d realised what a terrible day she’d been having one way or another, he hadn’t hesitated or wanted to hold back when she’d moved towards him, with tears in her eyes, and her face crumpling with misery. He’d held her so closely, trying to comfort her, and feeling like he never wanted to let go of her: holding Daisy had felt so right, like coming home after a long and weary absence. He can still recall the bite of anger he’d felt when they’d been interrupted by Hunter: he’d wanted to go on holding Daisy for a very long time.

And then there was that sudden, uncharacteristically semi-public hug – well, they’d hugged in front of May. Daisy had initiated that one, after a brief glance at May, and he can still recall his bafflement at Daisy hugging him, but he hadn’t hesitated to hug her back – it was if his hands and arms had responded automatically even while his mind was still trying to sort through what was going on. They’d been saying goodbye before he went off to San Juan with Bobbi to scout out the location of the hidden temple, and there’d been no obvious reason for the almost dramatic way she’d gone for the hug – it was only later that he’d learned she’d had a dream which had essentially been a foreshadowing of what would happen down in the temple. He can remember May’s questioning look, after Daisy had ascended the spiral stairs, heading up to the quinjet in which she and May would be heading off to collect Raina, and his own slight shrug that had indicated his non-comprehension of why Daisy would be hugging him out of the blue like that.

The next time they’d hugged, he’d initiated it, trying so desperately to offer Daisy some comfort in the wake of her Terrigenesis, and the revelation that she could cause earthquakes. He’d wanted to do so much more for her that day – for a start he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone at The Retreat. And he’d wanted to hug her and hold her for a long time, to try to reassure her that her body was still hers, even if she did have this strange, scary new ability now. It hadn’t been enough to sit and have lunch with her, to offer her his feeble words, and it had annoyed him immensely that he’d had to go off and deal with the nefarious business that Mack and Bobbi had been brewing with, as it turned out, another version of SHIELD headed up by Robert Gonzales.

It’s been far too long since that hug, and he wishes he’d hugged her in the wake of her possession by Hive, wishes that he’d hugged her and held her to comfort her after the loss of Lincoln, even if he hadn’t thought too highly of that young man, wishes that he’d offered her a hug in the face of the loss of Andrew Garner, too. He knows that she’d blamed herself for Andrew’s loss, as much as for Lincoln’s, that she’d blamed herself for hurting him, too, when she’d pulled down part of the roof of the hangar while under Hive’s Sway.

He wants to go on holding her now – never wants to let her go again. He’s so relieved and grateful that she managed to escape from Kasius and the Kree. He hates being parted from her, and wonders if he can insist that they never separate again because he hates not having her by his side.

“Phil.” She whispers his name against his neck, and he can’t help tightening his arms around her some more – it’s an automatic reaction, really, rather than a conscious decision.

“Daisy,” he whispers back, and he realises something he’s known, but never dared to acknowledge before – he loves her so much. His timing could hardly be worse, of course, but he’s glad to have realised, and as soon as he can get a minute alone with her, he’s going to tell her. Not that he expects her to reciprocate – he knows she cares about him, but it’s not the same, and he doesn’t mind in the least. He just wants her to know that there’s a least one person in this universe who loves her unreservedly.

He lets go of her reluctantly, because they cannot stand her, wrapped in each other’s arms for any longer – there’s work to be done. But he wants to hold her again, and soon.


End file.
